Recruiters do not attend training to become specialized in staffing SharePoint talent. As a result, they often rely on the tactics and strategies that have helped them fill jobs for other platforms and technologies. Finding SharePoint talent for SharePoint jobs is a completely different animal for key reasons. Demand for SharePoint Professionals – Since the release of Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007) in 2006, the demand for SharePoint professionals has been at a white-hot intensity. ASP Developers, Windows Network Administrators, and Web Developers were all converted into SharePoint Developers, Adminstrators, and Designers respectively, in large numbers in order to …
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SharePoint Saturday for Newbies
SharePoint Saturday VA Beach is the Anniversary of SP Saturday
This is a SharePoint Saturday event happening this weekend in some part of the world. What originally started off as a Code Camp-themed event focused entirely on the SharePoint platform has grown into a global phenomenon.
SharePoint Saturday has literally launched the beginning of SharePoint community in many countries since beginning in 2009 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Despite its global success, there are still hundreds of thousands of SharePoint Information Workers who have no prior knowledge of SharePoint Saturday, including local events happening right in their respective cities and states.
Select the excerpt below to view the full article to find out my perspective on what SharePoint Saturday is. It’s a great event that has revolutionized the SharePoint Community.
Excerpt from What is SharePoint Saturday article
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SharePoint Saturday Speaker Submission Guidelines
SP Saturday Speaker Submissions are tough. Here's a few Rules
One of the main objectives of SharePoint Saturday is to promote and develop a new crop of SharePoint Community speakers. The explosion of the event to include an international presence is great for the SharePoint community overall, but can be overwhelming and a daunting task for the new speaker. This speaker may have a wealth of experience in the SharePoint industry but the nuances of becoming an established speaker present a different learning curve altogether.
Adding on to the challenges are the 3 Undeniable Truths regarding SharePoint Saturday events that all potential speakers must understand and embrace:
1.) SharePoint Saturday is built upon a franchise model *but* each city adopts their event in a different way
2.) SharePoint Saturday Event Organizers have different criteria on what proposals they will accept
3.) A Well-written proposal is becoming of higher importance as more Organizers are adopting the trend of “nameless selection processes” when choosing speakers for their event
Based on these 3 undeniable truths that all SharePoint Community Speakers must embrace when submitting sessions to SharePoint Saturday, please review the article below and provide your viewpoints via the comments sections.
How to Submit Sessions to SharePoint Saturday
You can also follow me on Twitter @mrshadeed to discuss further.
Written by: Shadeed Eleazer
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Shedding the SharePoint Recruiter Salesman Stigma
SharePoint Recruiters Resemble SalesPeople to Technical Professionals
Recruiters do not attend training to become specialized in staffing SharePoint talent. As a result, they often rely on the tactics and strategies that have helped them fill jobs for other platforms and technologies. Finding SharePoint talent for SharePoint jobs is a completely different animal for key reasons.
Demand for SharePoint Professionals – Since the release of Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007) in 2006, the demand for SharePoint professionals has been at a white-hot intensity. ASP Developers, Windows Network Administrators, and Web Developers were all converted into SharePoint Developers, Adminstrators, and Designers respectively, in large numbers in order to meet the demand.
Variety of Skills Needed to Maintain a Career in SharePoint – Professionals involved in SharePoint deployments, migrations, and day-to-day operations regarding the platform have to be well versed in a number of technologies and programming languages. A SharePoint Administrator needs to have an understanding of server technologies such as IIS and virtualization. On any given day, the Admin may be challenged to modify HTML or JavaScript within a Content Editor WebPart, and create and deploy scripts written in PowerShell. Recruiters in general, are non-technical and often have an understanding of these technologies from a keyword standpoint, but when the rubber meets the road, they fail to understand how to separate mid-level from Senior level application of these skills from a real-world context.
In the article SharePoint Recruiters Must Abandon the Sales Pitch, I discuss the need for Recruiters to adopt a community based approach to improve their relation to the SharePoint Community.
Within the article, I present a section entitled In Defense of SharePoint Recruiters, which outlines challenges that Recruiters face that technical professionals don’t realize. Select the image “Do Cold Calls Work in the SharePoint Community?” to view the full article.
Excerpt from SharePoint Recruiters Must Abandon the Sales Pitch Article
Written by: Shadeed Eleazer
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Should SharePoint Recruiters Require Certifications?
Would a MCTS Stamp of Approval Improve SharePoint Recruiting?
It is painfully obvious to any SharePoint professional that has sat through a sales pitch aka cold call from a Recruiter who has located their info from an online job site or from contacts list from their last job search, that not all Recruiters operate in the same manner.
If you take a look at the roles and responsibilities that govern a typical SharePoint deployment within an organization, each one of those positions require a certified designation of some sort. Not all certifications need to be Microsoft-centric, such as PMP and VMWare Certified Professional, but it is understood that certifications are an important metric in determing aptitude in mid and senior-level positions.
To increase the problem, there is a clear lack of defined standards that dictate fair engagement for Recruiters.
Staffing SharePoint professionals is not the same process as a Network Engineer, JAVA Developer, or Windows System Administrator within a new position. There are a wide sweeping range of skillsets that span across hardware platforms, software applications, and programming and markup languages to carve out a career in the SharePoint industry.
For the Recruiters that do specialize in SharePoint, what “proof” do they have they are indeed the best-of-the-rest in order to separate their abilities and their staffing firm from the rest of the fly-by-night companies that do not understand the intracacies of SharePoint staffing?
Challenges to Certifying Staffing Professionals
- How Much Hands-On Proficiency Do Recruiters Need?
Should SharePoint Recruiters require hands-on experience from an End User perspective?
Do Recruiters need to understand SharePoint lists, libraries, and permissions?
- Minimum Technical Levels
What is the minimum technical level required and how can this area be tested in certification form?
- Lack of Industry Standard Definitions
There is a definite lack of industry standard definitions for SharePoint 2010 roles and responsibilities. Can Recruiters be tested on a subject where there is no centralized resource library to reference and study?
What are your thoughts on certifying SharePoint Recruiters?
Leave your comments and let’s get the discussion going.
Written by Shadeed Eleazer
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Is There a Human Element Missing In SharePoint Recruiting?
Are SharePoint Professionals Regarded as People or Quotas?
Is there a Human Element Missing in SharePoint Recruiting?
The relationship between Recruiters and Technical professionals in the SharePoint industry is built on misunderstandings and is defined as shaky at best. The article, SharePoint Recruiters: The Good, Bad, and the Fugly, written by SharePoint MVP and frequent speaker and Organizer, Becky Isserman, sums up the Technical perspective in a few paragraphs. It’s an older article but highlights a relevant relationship dynamic that exists today and hammers home a key point that Recruiters can utilize to build better relationships within the SharePoint Community:
Be sure to include “The Human Element” in speaking with SharePoint professionals
Recruiting From the Technicial Perspective
How is “The Human Element” maintained?
*Get to know SharePoint resources by their interests and hobbies. Start geniune conversations. The topic of jobs will come up once a relationship is established.
*Develop an authentic interest in some feature within the SharePoint platform. SharePoint is a huge platform. Microsoft Office is an application that you utilize each day as a Recruiter. Develop a learning path for the Office/SharePoint platforms. A common trait for SharePoint professionals is their desire to learn more to keep up with the demand. By attempting to learn more based on your genuine interest, you’ll instantly have something in common with every SP Pro that you’ll encounter.
*Build Your Reputation through Presence. Cold calls are dead. Over. Finished. The Specialist Recruiters in the SharePoint industry that “get it”, understand that maintaining a solid presence at community driven events is the best way to establish yourself and your Staffing practice.
Read the article in its entirety. What are your thoughts?
Follow Becky Isserman on Twitter
Written by Shadeed Eleazer
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SharePoint Career Development: The Next Frontier?
The Women in SharePoint DC Chapter is hosting a very unique event targeted to SharePoint skillsets ranging from beginner SharePoint to experienced Program Managers.
The event, Women in SharePoint Career Building Seminar, hosted on Thursday, 3/1/12, will feature a panel moderated by Rima Reyes of Women of SharePoint DC.
A panel of professionals will be discussing their careers in SharePoint from beginner to program manager.
They will also share their tips, tricks, and lessons learned. These women best represent the community, are knowledgeable in various areas of SharePoint, and share the passion of helping others along their way.
Panelists Tasha Scott, Janis Hall, Mary Leigh Mackie, and Marie-Michelle Strah will be sharing their perspectives on the following areas of SharePoint Careers.
- Mid Level SharePoint Professional & New to Speaking: Tasha Scott
- Senior SharePoint Professional/Instructor & Working Mom: Janis Hall
- Director of an Independent Software Vendor for SharePoint: Mary Leigh Mackie
- Federal Program Manager & Enterprise Architect: Marie-Michelle Strah
To provide additional value, Prism will host a 1 hour one-on-one SharePoint Resume Writing Workshop for attendees of the event.
Career development is a very underutilized topic within the SharePoint community. There are specific strategies that SharePoint professionals should learn from Staffing professionals and that discussion needs to happen more often.
Panelist Bios:
Tasha Scott: Tasha Scott is a passionate SharePoint Community supporter; if you’ve been to a SharePoint Saturday on the East Coast, chances are you’ve seen her! She is driven to enable business solutions using SharePoint, either via the user interface or SharePoint Designer. She’s worked with SharePoint in both the private sector corporation environment and with the DoD and Federal spaces. Until moving to DC recently, she was part of the leadership team with Hampton Roads SQL Server and SharePoint User Group and the DoD SPUG, and continues to be an active member of the SharePoint Saturday organization. Twitter: @tashasev
Janis Hall: Pulling from 15 years of industry experience and thousands of training hours, Janis incorporates her passion for SharePoint and its countless benefits into viable, innovative classes that provide students with both technical know-how and contextual application. Focusing on out-of-the-box business solutions that emphasize organizational efficiency and functional sustainability, she travels the country leading training engagements and speaking at Industry events; such as Microsoft’s SharePoint 2010 conference in Las Vegas, User Groups and regional SharePoint Saturdays. In her role as Instructor she has provided specialized training for a range of clientele including various Fortune 500 companies, the Air Force and the Marines. As a mom she gets to participate in the exciting goings-on of video games and middle school, as seen through the eyes of her 12 year old daughter (her inspiration and reason for doing all the rest). Twitter: @janishall
Mary Leigh Mackie: Mary Leigh, as AvePoint’s Vice President of Product Marketing, works directly with AvePoint’s research & development team in the design and implementation of new SharePoint infrastructure management products and solutions. She has been actively engaged in the SharePoint space for several years, working with many Fortune 500 companies and government organizations to develop successful SharePoint management and protection strategies. Born and raised in Oxford, Mississippi, Mary Leigh received her engineering degree from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, in New York City. Twitter: @mlmackie Blogs available on www.docave.com
Marie-Michelle Strah: Marie-Michelle Strah, PhD is a healthcare enterprise architect in the Washington D.C. area specializing in strategy, information architecture, information security and data architecture for federal and commercial clients. She brings more than 15 years of experience in enterprise architecture, healthcare, information technology management, and research and development internationally, with specific depth of expertise in information security and compliance, organizational transformation, patient-centered medical home strategies and healthcare administration. . A graduate of Miami University, Cornell University (MA/PhD) and a former Javits Fellow, Dr. Strah is currently a Program Manager at Applied Information Sciences in Reston, VA. http://www.appliedis.com/ Twitter:@cyberslate Blog: http://lifeincapslock.com
Does the SharePoint community need more resources targeted towards career, resume writing, and interviewing? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.
-Written by Shadeed Eleazer
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You May Be in Love with SharePoint if…
SharePoint: You Complete Me 
You pull your hair out in attempting to understand it, you lose sleep thinking about how to make your relationship work better, you stopped spending as much time with your friends, which may include weekends and late nights.
You search for tools and companies to improve its look, you invest in additional resources to help it perform at its very best. When it works, there’s no better feeling. If you can relate to one of more of these symptoms, then yes, you are in love in SharePoint.
What do you love about SharePoint? What keeps you working with the platform? What excites you about waking up each day to learn more?
Leave your comments below:
Written by Shadeed Eleazer
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SharePoint Saturday VA Beach Recap
SharePoint Saturday Virginia Beach celebrated its 4th anniversary highlighted by a great event featuring keynote by Brett Lonsdale and dozens of great speakers, sessions, and great attendance. Planning for the 5 year anniversary of SPSVB is already in motion
In Eventwatch: Baltimore SharePoint User Group hosts PowerShell for the SharePoint Developer hosted by Application Dev Paul Schaeflein, MVP.
SharePoint Saturday VA Beach Recap by sharepointcareers
Written by: Shadeed Eleazer
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Examining the Potential of Office 365 Saturday and Community
What is the potential of Office 365 Saturday? Can SharePoint, Exchange, and Lync professionals coordinate across varying platforms to build a community with a singular focus and direction?
Can Office 365 Saturday mirror the success of SharePoint Saturday? These questions and more are analyzed in the latest SharePoint Careers podcast.
Office 365 is increasing in deployments and adoption in organizations since its release in mid-2011. The community is responding by launching the Office 365 Saturday event series, which closely models the hugely successful SharePoint Saturday events, which have spread to international destinations. In this segment, Shadeed Eleazer will list 3 reasons for the success of SharePoint Saturday, provide comparisons between Office 365 and SharePoint communities, and provide an overview of the first Office 365 event held in Redmond.
***This Podcast was recorded live at SharePoint Saturday Virginia Beach.
What is the Potential of Office 365 Saturday? by sharepointcareers
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In commemoration of Microsoft’s recent announcement of the Most Valuable Professionals for 2012, I thought it would be interesting to explain the MVP Award and its impact on a SharePoint Professionals’ career.
In this podcast, I cover what the MVP Award translates to in a traditional work setting which would benefit employers that have deployed SharePoint and are looking for top notch consultants and answered FAQ regard SharePoint MVPs.
How Does the MVP Award Impact a SharePoint Professional?
What is the impact of the MVP Award on a SharePoint Professional?
In commemoration of Microsoft’s recent announcement of the Most Valuable Professionals for 2012, I thought it would be interesting to explain the MVP Award and its impact on a SharePoint Professionals’ career.
In this podcast, I cover what the MVP Award translates to in a traditional work setting which would benefit employers that have deployed SharePoint and are looking for top notch consultants and answered FAQ regard SharePoint MVPs.
In today’s Eventwatch. I provide an overview for Laura Rogers’ presentation on SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) at the Birmingham SharePoint User Group.
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How does Microsoft’s MVP Award Impact Your Career in SharePoint? by sharepointcareers
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